JAG Hotel Rocks Out With EAW ADAPTive Sound System

ST. JOHN’S, N.L., NOVEMBER 19, 2025 – The JAG Hotel, a rock-and-roll themed boutique destination in the heart of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, is renowned for its sleek interiors and curated collection of music memorabilia. The hotel called on EAW’s Canadian distributor SFM to enhance its guest and performance experiences with a property-wide audio upgrade.

SFM turned to Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW^®) and installed the brand’s speakers throughout the hotel, including its 1,600-capacity performance venue. This upgrade ensured great sound and even coverage not only in the performance venue, but in the hotel’s main lobby, common areas, main bar, as well as its spa and gym.

“Sound quality and coverage were top priority,” says Jodi Rhuland, Atlantic Canada Sales rep at SFM. “When this project first came up, I immediately thought about the sound quality and vocal intelligibility of EAW products. With the help of EAW’s design team and our own, we carefully mapped out speaker placement for each space to ensure the best possible outcome.”

The main performance venue features an Anya 3-way Full-range ADAPTive Array Module with 12 boxes, six on each side in a vertical L-R configuration and eight Otto ADAPTive Subwoofers, with four boxes on each side, horizontally ground stacked under the stage.

The main lobby and common areas use EAW’s MKD Series loudspeakers, including seven MKD1096 and three MKD826s. The main bar contains RSX89 2-way Self-powered Loudspeakers, and the spa and gym area use EAW MKC Series loudspeakers.

“The Anya PA is amazing,” says Shawn Basha, property manager for JAG Hotel. “It’s perfect for our performance venue, where walls can close off sections of the room, and we can control the sound without physically moving the gear. It gives us true versatility, incredible coverage and a flat, natural sound.”

The installation also addressed architectural challenges. “The MKD526’s ability to mount vertically or horizontally was a perfect solution for spaces with large pillars,” added Rhuland. “It made for an aesthetically pleasing and acoustically excellent result.”

The performance venue also serves as a multipurpose room that can turn into a theater, but can also host meetings, conventions and corporate events. “The Anya PA fills the room beautifully, gives us all the sight lines we need and most importantly it sounds amazing,” adds Basha.

From cozy gatherings in the lobby bar to large-scale concerts in its multipurpose venue, the JAG Hotel now delivers a powerful audio experience. The hotel owner’s vision was to ‘have great sound everywhere,’ which made coverage and evenness of coverage a huge priority for this project.

Now, thanks to SFM and EAW, the JAG Hotel truly brings this vision to life. “I’ve always found EAW products to sound really good and be of high quality,” says Basha. “For JAG, we wanted the best PA system possible and that was without a doubt EAW.”